Olympic Esports Week 2023: Duathlon exhibition shows off excitement of Arena Games Triathlon format

World Triathlon shows off Arena Games Triathlon in an exhibition duathlon format at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week.

1 minBy ZK Goh
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(© IOC / Lionel Ng)

Fans at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week 2023 were treated to an exciting taste of the Arena Games Triathlon magic with World Triathlon and Super League holding an exhibition duathlon race in Singapore.

Arena Games Triathlon is an esports format of triathlon mixing both real-world and virtual competition, which sees competitors swim in an Olympic-sized pool while running on self-powered curved treadmills and cycling on smart trainers.

In Singapore, five teams representing four continents (with two teams from Asia) competed in a duathlon format: 750m run, 6km bike, and 750m run, with no swim leg, racing around Zwift's Scotland world.

The packed crowd at the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre saw 10 of the world's best youth and junior athletes – five male, five female – race in a four-person team relay format, with the time differences accumulated after adding up the first three stages turned into a pursuit race for the final stage.

Team Oceania took a 10-second lead (converted from real differences to a two-minute maximum) into the final pursuit, and extended their lead to over 20 seconds, crossing the finish line first.

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